I had just finished eating a late supper, because I was outside splitting wood all evening, and was planning on taking a phone call from a ADHD online acquaintance and trying to the the kids prepped for bed all at once, and decided to multitask.

So, I was getting my 6yo son, sensoryboy, ready for bed and getting him a melatonin at the same time as getting two caffeine pills for myself, and handing my 11yo  daughter her melatonin.

In my attempt to multitask, I handed her her melatonin, got my caffiene pills, THOUGHT I handed the boy his melatonin, and then popped my caffiene pills and drank them down, while getting a drink for the kids each.

It was only when my son was standing there telling me I didn’t give him his melatonin yet that I realized that I took his small white melatonin pill that was under my large pink “wide awakes” and I never even noticed, because I was rushing, and trying to multitask.

the three of us started laughing so hard, we could not tell TMO ( theMundaneOne aka hubby) what I had done, and then just as I gathered myself to tell him while till giggling, my son “herpderped” me.

he HERP DERP-ED ME!

HAHA it was well deserved.

FYI, melatonin with 200mg of caffiene doesn’t really do much of anything.

FYI part duex. don’t get on my ass for taking 200 mg of caffiene…it’s the equivalent of a large tim horton’s coffee…with no sugar, and less shit flavour

never a dull moment around here I tell ya.

Two of our budgies started geting all hot and heavy a while ago and Stormy laid eggs in the bottom of the cage….they were duds…so we gave her a nest box and she laid another clutch of 4 eggs, and last week two hatched on Friday and Sunday. here they are a week old. TMO took them out of the box  to check them over….they are getting big and strong and will be blue to grey colour based on the parents…the older one looks like she/he will be more grey.

Stormy is a good mama, and Vapour is a diligent papa, chewing food and gvig it to Stormy to stuff the baby’s crops full.

this is our homeschooling biology/ animal husbandry homescooling lesson of the season

They are the most amazing cugly things I have ever seen!

Take a quick look around the room you are sitting in and count how many things are the colour blue

ok done that now?

good. scroll down

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Now, close your eyes and tell me how many things in the room are yellow.

wait! what? I was focused on blue, not yellow.

EXACTLY!

the colour blue represents everything negative you think, feel or say about yourself, and your life and whatever current situation you are in that you place in a negative space in your mind. Be it weight loss, money issues, love issues…struggling with ADHD, being disorganized…whatever it is….

the yellow things in the room represents the things you are good at, the positive qualities you have, the positive places you want to be in the future…it represents happiness, no anxiety, smiling, feeling good, and being successful at whatever it is that is the most pressing issue causing you stress in your life right now.

Positive thinking and self esteem is powerful for performance success. This is because the higher your sense of self worth, the more things you do well. Because, you focus on the positive of it. The more things you identify you are capable of doing, the more things you focus on doing successfully, and the more you notice success and how to get there, and you keep doing it.

it is kind of like the “broken window” theory in reverse.

it is how your brain works,naturally… because of momentum, and  it is the neurology of why cognitive psychology works, and why the power of positive thinking works.

it is why how you think is so important in life. Your thoughts become the things in your life. So…change your thoughts. Outsmart your brain…Focus on the yellow instead of the blue.

get it?

So, i had my ADHD med dose upped a few weeks ago, and it has really been an amazing difference!!!!!

For people who do not understand the struggles of dealing with forgetfulness, and scatterbrainedness, and being unable to organize your thoughts in a manner that makes getting things done easy, and stay on track, you might not appreciate just how BIG an improvement this is for me.

I have not had guests in our house since last feb when my parents came by on the way driving through to go back home from being with my uncle who died of Brain cancer last year. So i have been lax.without the pressure of company coming it is easier to say “i’ll do it later” and never get it done.

I am a shitty housekeeper. i am AWESOME in EVERY OTHER WAY in the world, but I have always been a terrible housekeeper. I have a terrible attention span to stay on track with something so boring and mundane as scrubbing floors and vacuuming. add to that two kids home all day and a disabled husband who never leaves the house except about twice a month, and a doubled list of things to do around here with only me to do them and keeping up is very difficult, especially when my ADHD meds would wear off too soon in the day.

but since my meds increase 3 weeks ago, i have managed to clean the house to a “decent” state to feel ok with allowing my daughter to have a small bday party last friday for her 10th, and the kitchen, and living room and bathroom are decluttered and relatively clean. and now, 5 day later, it is STILL clean. I’m not talking OCD clean standards. but decent. we’ll still wanna use plates and the like, no eating off the floors here, but good.

No laundry all over the couch waiting to be folded for days, the dishes are ALL WASHED and PUT AWAY, the floor has been swept, the carpet vacuumed, and just a relative overall less chaotic living space as everything finds it’s home and goes there. I’ve hung curtains and pictures in the house, cleaned the whole hallway upstairs of boxes and boxes of unpacked stuff from our move two years ago, and started on the kid den/homeschooling area, of decluttering that complete mess the kids made in there.

What’s changed? I have less anxiety and feeling overwhelmed because the meds help my brain chemistry stay on track. for the first time since before i got pregnant with my son over 6 years ago, i feel like i have the brain I had then, where the ADHD scatterbrain wasn’t so bad, that I could keep in check with routines and plans, a brain that didn’t get so overwhelmed by trying to make dinner and have people talk to it at the same time. that didn’t have so much anxiety from messing up all the time, and have panic attacks, when trying to just get a meal on the table where each component of the meal was all warm and properly cooked at the same time.

I have not had a single panic attack, emotional outburst from feeling overwhelmed in the evening starting supper and evening routines, with this new med dose. before I used to have a panic attack almost every night, get flustered, snap at people, nd end up cranky and grumpy. before my brain would just shut down and i’d be a bumbling idiot trying to not burn dinner and somehow manage to get the kids to bed in a timely fashion.

Medication/drugs is never a cure all, or the only solution, but it is a part of my better managing the debilitating ADHD I have. The meds at a proper level, along with good plans, notes, to do lists and implementing routines that become second nature to my ADHD brain mean less chaos, and a happier family over all…and I feel pretty damn good about that right now…it’s been 6 years!

I’ve been trying routines and plans for 6 years with the wrong dose of meds, and I’d fail every time. people can be as negative as they want about ADHD and medications, but I am living proof, that without the right personalized mix of meds and behaviour modifications, nether the meds will work alone, nor will the behaviour modifications work alone.

I feel like I’ve been swimming under the surface of the water for 6 years with a rock tied to my foot, and I have been struggling to get to the top for air, and I have finally broke through the surface by breaking the ropes the rock was held on with, and am able to tread water again like I used to,with my head above water and maybe soon as I catch things back up that have fallen so far behind from all the ADHD fog, i’ll be able to actually SWIM again, and maybe even WIN the race.

If you have been trying ADHD meds with no success at finding the right combo of brain chemistry alteration and behaviour modification, it might be time to see if a change is necessary. if you’ve been struggling and are on meds,maybe a coach and some help with implementing routines is needed, or if you’ve been struggling trying to implement routines, maybe the meds need to be tweaked.

I’ve fought for 6 years to find the right combination..I’ve finally found it!!!

You don’t need to feel like your drowning anymore, don’t give up!

I’m not sure if it has been mentioned here before, but we’ve been without a hot water heater for almost 3 months. Our old hot water heater was the only propane appliance drawing from some VERY large tanks in our yard. When we moved in, we thought we’d use the propane for heating and eventually a  gas range, but we discovered very quickly that the propane fireplaces here were too inefficient to be practical. We’d decided to get rid of the big rental tanks and replace them with much smaller ones when Superior propane showed up while we weren’t home and refilled them without our permission (we’d repeatedly told them the house had changed owners and we didn’t want them filled). That meant we were stuck with them until they were empty enough to move – and by our calculations we had enough propane to run the hot water tank until at least 2011. They gave us a deferred, interest-free payment plan because of their screwup and that was paid in full as of March.

So, of course, we ran out of propane on April 17th, 2010.

Since then, we’ve had to do without. We’ve boiled water for baths on the stove, bathed in the mill pond, and used cold water for everything else. We researched out options extensively, including looking for alternative propane tanks that we could move and fill ourselves, alternative hot water heaters (including solar options), and anything else we could think of. Everything was a no-go: financially we couldn’t afford to purchase tanks, lines, regulators or anything else outright; because we live rurally, we don’t have natural gas lines so there is no gas company to finance a heater; our electricity comes from the large, main provincial utility rather than a local municipal supplier (the usual tank-rental providers); and we were having trouble getting financial help from CMHC,  the government agency which is supposed to assist with such problems. That is, until about 2 weeks ago, when we found a company which declares their mandate to be renting electric hot water tanks to rural homeowners. It took 10 days of phone-tag, but finally ADDGirl finally was able to arrange an installation for July 13th. Unfortunately, we didn’t know until they arrived that the existing HWT wiring didn’t meet the current building code so they were able to hook up the water to the tank, but not the power. I had to go out and purchase $6 worth of armoured cable and install it last night, so the plumbers could come back and connect the wire to the heater today (“We’re not allowed to go in your electrical panel, because we’re not electricians,” they said).

Sorry to be long-winded and boring, but I had to explain that to tell you about this.

I planned to work before dark so that when the main power was off, I’d still be able to see – but that didn’t work out. In fact, the job kept getting delayed and delayed until after 2am. I used a backup power pack (a deep cycle battery/built-in inverter combo device) to run a halogen work light so I could do the job with the mains off. It was gruelling due to my pain issues and lack of stamina, and the fact that pauses were needed to make everything safe and let the battery recharge with the mains back on (we had to do that at least 3 times). Finally done around 3:30am, I sat down to rest and relieve the agony in my legs while she put some things away. I was also desperately thirsty, but we had no drinking water because the kids had emptied the water cooler during the day and she’d forgotten to change it. Then, she got on the computer – in spite of the fact that she knew she had to be up for the plumber’s return in 5-6 hours – and proceeded to play around for more than 40 minutes. This induced an argument – while I tried to point out the lack of forward thinking in wasting time instead of getting into bed, she kept insisting that “wind down” time was needed. I went to double-check that things were finished, and discovered the back door had been left unlocked, so I locked up, turned off the lights, and came back to find her still on the computer. Finally, she came into the bedroom, crawled on the bed, and within seconds was incoherently telling me she’d “Just be a minute” and she’d refill the water cooler that she’d promised to take care of 12 hours before “in a sec”. Our well water is not suitable for drinking (after the water softener, it still tastes very unpleasant) so the water cooler or bottled water is only way to slake ones thirst. After I tried to be patient for almost an hour, we ended up having a huge blow-up because I lost my temper with the “I’m just resting my eyes a minute” B.S. In a snit, she went out to the car and brought in some bottled water. Eventually things calmed down, but it was damn close to 6:30am before we were actually getting to sleep.

Now, here’s what makes me nuts.

The plumber showed up sometime around 9am (without calling first like he was supposed to), so she wasn’t awake. He knocked but we were obviously too out-cold to hear it (which is actually abnormal for me, but given the circumstances, understandable). A neighbour walking by told him that if the van was home we were home, but he couldn’t get an answer. He saw through the window that the wire was ready to be hooked up, so he tried the door, found it unlocked, and walked in and connected the hot water tank. He then left a note and headed off to do his next service call.

Note that the door was unlocked. It wasn’t SUPPOSED to be unlocked.

She’d forgotten to lock it when she went out for water to drink. She wouldn’t have gone through it if it wasn’t for the argument and her sudden “inability to stay awake” problem.

I’d locked the door. I’d tried to get us into bed as soon as we were done the job. I’d reminded her repeatedly about the water, only to be ignored. I did everything right, trying to steer us toward getting enough rest and making sure she’d be up when the plumber showed up, trying to plan in advance and anticipating any problems.

She did everything wrong – she didn’t get to bed early enough (and prevented us both from getting the job done in a timely manner), she didn’t get the water when she was supposed to, forcing her to have to drag her butt outside at 5am – and as a result she left the door unlocked so anyone could walk in the house.

If it wasn’t for ADHD behaviour and the argument over failing to get stuff done,the plumber wouldn’t have been able to get in. He would’ve had to charge us for a service call instead of doing the hookup for free. We wouldn’t have hot water today – plus we’d have had to pay out-of-pocket to have them come back.

So much for learning from mistakes. ARGH!

So a few weeks ago I “liked” a page on facebook for “muffin tin meals” when I saw it on a friend’s status as it looked kind of fun for the kids, and I wanted some more info.

When I saw what they were doing with “muffin tin mondays” I decided I’d try it with the kids. I have muffin tins I NEVER use ( as you can see by the picture! lol) I liked the idea because it is derived from Bento boxes from Japanese traditions, and as an ADD person I find Asian culture’s streamline organized ways to be calming to my mind.

Anyway, in my usual ADD fashion I forgot about it for a week or so, and then in a rush one evening this week past, and from having literally NO clean plates in the house due to our current canoe project taking up a lot of my time, I needed a solution!

Once again a possible ADD disastrous supper due to no clean dishes, and little time to prepare anything decent, I became a Super ADD Mom, and got some major cool mom points for remembering the muffin tin idea.

I dug out some muffin tins and scoured the fridge for leftovers, and made a muffin tin meal for the kids. We had worked late on the canoe and everyone was tired and cranky, so I just threw in some fast bite foods to fill the tummies fast, and cut up their hot dogs in bite size manageable pieces with some raisins for the boy, and hummus for the girl.

THEY LOVED IT!

HOW SIMPLE an idea, but how BRILLIANT! A mom and former preschool teacher from California came up with muffin tin meals!

Now, the kids are asking for muffin tin meals at every supper, and if I can dish it in a muffin tin, I am!

The smaller sized sandwiches or hotdogs cut make it easier to eat, and they are HAPPY to have them cut for the muffin tin. If I suggested cutting a hot dog served on a plate in half to make it more manageable to hold they’d normally get really upset..possibly even major meltdowns, but in a muffin tin, they are happy to have it cut.

The girl HATES her foods touching each other, so this is PERFECT for her. Potatoes and corn and chicken all separated. Even gravy for dipping. She’s not whining about foods touching.

The hyper boy is making less mess and actually SITTING for supper!

In fact he was so excited for “our muffintin meal” for supper the other night he cleaned the WHOLE table off ( it was stacked with crafts, recycle, and the breakfast dishes)….and he worked really hard to wipe the table off! He was so Proud of himself! he said to me ” i’m being asponsible aren’t I mommy” with a big grin on his face.

Then in the evening after the kids were in bed. TMO and I were cutting beef up and I put the crock pot and slushie maker on the table for counter room, and in the morning the boy said ” AWWW man I JUST cleaned this WHOLE table and someone went and messed it ll up!”

I laughed so hard…nice role reversal. I cleared off the table and told them if they like muffin tin meals to keep the table and dining areas clean. Today they kept it clean again, and even put new place mats in place, and made a bouquet of fresh flowers from the garden.

So far… this is like a small miracle in my house! We are planning on shopping for some nicer looking colourful muffin tin type trays for the kids soon, or maybe making more traditional bento boxes.

The Mundane One has also said he’d like to eat that way too and spent some time on google looking at bento boxes.

Thanks @muffintinmom !! She and I connected on Twitter last night, and best part of all…. SHE’S a Super ADD Mom too!

If you want to check it out, follow @muffintinmom on twitter, or read her blog at www.muffintinmom.com